1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns disposable single use, surfactant impregnated cleansing articles.
2. The Related Art
Personal cleansing and conditioning products have traditionally been marketed in a variety of forms such as bar soaps, creams, lotions, and gels. These formulations have attempted to satisfy a number of criteria to be acceptable to consumers. These criteria include cleansing effectiveness, skin feel, skin mildness and lather volume. Ideal personal cleansers should gently cleanse the skin or hair, cause little or no irritation, and not leave the skin or hair overly dry after frequent use.
New delivery forms have in the last several years appeared on the market. Many of these are based on the use of a textile or wiping article. These products are often substantially dry or damp woven or non-woven cloth upon which is deposited a cleansing composition of surfactant, structurant, skin conditioning agent and other performance ingredients.
Disposable single use articles are convenient because they represent a more sanitary alternative to use of a sponge, washcloth, or other cleansing implement intended for multiple reuse. The disposable implements avoid bacterial growth, unpleasant odors and other undesirable characteristics related to repeated use.
Illustrative of the wiping article technology is U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,621 B1 (Gott et al.) disclosing a disposable substantially damp cleansing article with amounts of water ranging from greater than 15% to no higher than about 40% by weight of the total article. “Substantially dry” wiping articles are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,991 (Wagner et al.) which focuses upon providing a substrate (i.e. textile) with a conditioning emulsion separately impregnated from the lathering surfactant onto the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,931 (Fowler et al.) emphasizes impregnation of oil soluble conditioning agents.
Still further technology is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,757 B1 (McAtee et al.) which describes disposable, personal cleansing articles wherein the substrate contains a plurality of apertures ranging in size from about 0.5 to 5 mm in diameter. These apertures are located within the cleansing surface of the substrate at a frequency of from about 0.5 to 12 apertures per linear centimeter.
A problem with some of the known disposable cleansing wipe technology is that when wetted with substantial water, the substrate tends to shrink into a “ball configuration” within a user's hand. Shrinkage is undesirable because the system becomes less efficient in functioning to wipe large surfaces. This is especially so with respect to articles intended for cleaning the larger body beyond merely facial areas.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to overcome the problems of “ball-up” of textiles in the context of body cleansing.